>> even though he's misheard several of them? <<

... well, as Green Lady's illustrated, their esteemed predecessors had already altered the lyrics.
apart from the name of the drummer, the Stones are using Chuck Berry's version of the words.
maybe CBII can enlighten us about how "you can lose your lead" came about -
my best theory matches Green Lady's: that the "lead" in the phrase is the British word for "leash",
and the phrase means you can let go, feel unrestrained, etc - but i don't know why Chuck would use a British English word.
maybe it just "sings better" than the US English equivalent?

>> If I recall reading right ... Chuck Berry was watching them doing "Down The Road Apiece" and said there were doing alright <<

smile: yeah! the immortal words were:
"Swing on, gentlemen - you are sounding most well if I may say so."

hail hail Rolling Stones :E

I love both versions (chucks and the Stones) but they are vastly different to me other than the intro. The Stones cranked this number up twice the speed and one of the guitar breaks on Chuck's is completely different(maybe because its Matt"Guitar"Murphy? I don't know!) There is a BBC version where they play it in a lower key like Berry's(or at least thats what it sounds like to me)

Here the Stones really show the world what masters they already are of the rhythm and blues form. And, as pointed out above, the production on this track is stellar, too.

A rollicking gem.

Drew

There´s a very interest version (although not glorious such as the Sontes and Chuck´s) by Manfred Mann mark I, with their great Paul Jones line-up.